JOHANNESBURG – The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) on Monday, gave notice of its intention to embark on secondary strike action at Sibanye-Stillwater's platinum operations around Rustenburg in support of the current strike at the mine's gold operations on the West Rand and in the Free State.
About 15 000 Amcu members have been on strike at Sibanye's gold operations Kloof, Beatrix and Driefontein mines since November 22, 2018, refusing a three-year wage agreement signed by the mine and three other unions and demanding a R1 000 annual wage increase for the next three years.
On Monday, Amcu sent an official notice to Sibanye-Stillwater indicating that it will be embarking on secondary strike action from next week Tuesday, 22 January 2019.
In terms of section 66 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), the members of a trade union may embark on protected strike action "in support of a strike by other employees against their employer" by giving seven days' notice of such strike action commencing.
This secondary strike will mean that about 12 500 Amcu members employed at Sibanye's platinum operations will join their estimated 15 000 comrades from the same company's gold operations.
Last week, Sibanye said in a statement that it had successfully implemented plans to limit losses during the ongoing strike action and that group liquidity remained sound offset by its South African platinum operations which benefited from higher rand platinum group metals basket prices.
Sibanye employs about 32 200 people at its SA gold operations, with Amcu representing approximately 43 percent.